We’ve brought you stories about how you can use your smartphones to put a band together, take a car on a virtual ride, or capture colors from everyday objects. With modern design, larger screens, and state-of-the-art components, smartphones are owned and used by over 2 billion people nowadays. With increasing possibilities and ways of taking advantage of these (most of the time) useful features, users are getting more and more addicted to their phones. The phenomenon — called simply mobile phone overuse — makes people use their ‘digitalized friend’ over 50 times a day.
This can become not only physically dangerous, e.g. during inappropriate situations such as driving a car, but it can also create social problems and can lead to anxiety if separated from their smartphone or sufficient signal. Fortunately, for some of the ‘overusing’ people, a Swiss consumer electronics manufacturer has come up with a solution that reminds us of an episode of the American animated television series Futurama, called ‘Obsoletely Fabulous.’ Punkt. has created a range of (still) clever, elegant devices that want to avoid the global trend and aims towards pre-planned obsolescence, creating instead products that are one day to become stand-out design classics.
While looking at the other side of the highly digitalized and ‘smart’ spectre, we have a device that is not really a gadget. In what might be taken as a return to Nokia’s legacy of non-touchscreen models, Punkt. is taken from the Germanic word for ‘point’ or ‘full stop/period’. The name, including the actual full-stop, was chosen to symbolize the way the company’s products are built around simplicity, clarity, and focus. Punkt.’s answer to the modern-era mobile phone — the MP 01 — has so far created a few ripples since its launch in Autumn 2015. The company suggests using it alongside a smartphone as a way of getting some tech downtime. MP 01 is a calls-and-texts-only product — but it provides a modern alternative to old-fashioned ‘dumbphones.’
Punkt.’s founder and CEO Petter Neby started the company in 2008 with the idea of bringing a breath of fresh air into the consumer electronics market with timeless products designed to do their job, without intruding on their owner’s time and attention. He said that: “Today’s world is consumed with technology and I think we are too distracted by it in day-to-day life. I founded Punkt. to offer a viable alternative for those feeling overwhelmed by the advanced technologies that have pervaded modern lifestyles. Punkt. is about using technology to help us adopt good habits for less distracted lives.”
The design at Punkt. is led by British award-winning industrial designer Jasper Morrison, who is internationally renowned for his ability to enhance our world through design. The products in the Punkt. range include a multiport desktop charger (UC 01), a clutter-free extension socket (ES 01), a simple, yet efficient alarm clock (AC 01), and a cordless phone (DP 01) – the company’s debut product launched in January 2011.
Since then, the company has continued to develop stylish, carefully designed, and elegantly crafted electronics products aimed at people who want “to be in charge of the technology they buy, and who understand the importance of subtle beauty in everyday life”. Jasper Morrison’s design stands out for its clean lines and sharp visual concepts and reflects the fact that modern technology is embedded to create instantly intuitive functions — in a tool that works for you, rather than the other way around.
So, how do you promote such a product, that has no clear advantage over the high-tech phones? You take into account the exact problem we mentioned at the beginning — the fact that today’s world is filled with technology and there’s almost no escape out of it — and you let people see the other side of the picture, in this case, low-res, non-touch picture. You offer them to try the phone for two days and show their experience with the minimalistic phone. As the company’s product presentation strategy is of such minimalist and austere nature, while reflecting the simple design aesthetic of the goods themselves, it is balanced by a straightforward, personal, and often humorous engagement with the public via their social media.
And the key element of such an approach is Punkt.’s Digital Detox Challenges, during which the company invites not only members of the public, but also popular figures (such as bloggers, journalists, and writers) to spend at least 48 hours without their smartphone and to use an MP 01 phone instead. They then have to describe their escapade before, during, and after the process. Ironically, most of these interactions happen via social media, but the company still managed to place the physical world at its center stage. As part of their successful challenge, the participants are asked to send postcards (yes, actual printed-out postcards) to Punkt.’s headquarters in Lugano, Switzerland.
Such an approach epitomizes Punkt.’s philosophy which shouldn’t be understood as merely anti-computer but mostly pro-balance. And by some of the participant’s reactions, you can tell that trying to find the balance and completing the challenge isn’t easy.
Tech enthusiast and editor-in-chief of the popular Appcessories blog, Daniel Stockhaus, decided to get rid of his iPhone 6 for one weekend and give the Punkt.’s MP 01 a try. He shared his experience in an interesting post called ‘My Disconnected, Reconnected Weekend.’ Take a look at his pictures he took during the challenge below.
Stephen Kinsella described that his “urge to tweet about how I didn’t have a phone anymore was somewhat overpowering.” And to provide the balanced side, Tomas Tvarijonas added an interesting observation: “A life without notifications is a life worth living.”
With more backlash building up against the unrestrained absorption of new technology, the Swiss company is expecting their next Digital Detox Challenge — which is going to be launched in January 2017 — to be covered across both traditional news channels and social media.
Do you think you could take on such a challenge? Could you live without your smartphone for a weekend? If so, you can visit Punkt.’s website and apply there.
Credits: